Zipper guide roll for sewing machine



June 23, 1959 H. M. POR TER ZIPPER cums ROLL FOR SEWING MACHINE Filed Aug. 22, 1957 INVENTOR Han-1., Mari'in Pori'or ATTORNEY dtates ZIPPER GUIDE ROLL FOR SEWING MACHINE Application August 22, 1957, Serial No. 679,681

1 Claim. (Cl. 112-152) This invention relates to a device for guiding zipper chain or zipper stringers to the sewing station of a sewing machine for the purpose of stitching the chain to a series of garment pieces.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a guiding device for feeding continuous zipper chain or stringers to the sewing station of the machine in proper relationship to the stitching needle without the need of having the operator manually guide the chain.

The main purpose of the device is to provide an automatic feed for slide fastener stringers without the necessity of handling the stringers so that the operator may be better able to feed successive pieces of work to the sewing station and continuously stitch the stringers to the successive pieces of work.

The above and other objects will appear from the reading of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a sewing machine showing the guiding device attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the guiding device or unit, per se.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 10 refers generally to a work-support bed of a sewing machine over which is a sewing head 11 having the usual presser foot bar 12 and needle bar 13. The presser foot bar 12 has a presser foot 14 hingedly attached to the lower end thereof and is formed with a bifurcated end 15 through which a needle 16 carried by the needle bar 13 passes in the stitching operation.

The guiding device or unit consists of a support bracket 17 adjustably supported upon the top surface of the bed 10. For this purpose, the bracket has a flat section 18 resting directly against the bed 10 and held thereagainst as by a pair of set screws 19 and also formed with an upwardly off-set section 20 adjacent the sewing station of the machine. The flat section 18 is provided with a longitudinal slot 21 through which the set screw 19 passes for adjustment purposes. The off-set section 20 of the bracket 17 is for the purpose of providing ample space between said off-set section and the work-support bed it? to permit freedom of movement for a portion of the garment piece to which the zipper chain or stringer is to be attached. The ofi-set section 26 is formed at its free end with an upright plate 22 to which is attached a bearing stud 23 upon which rotates a guide roller 24 having a channel 25 intermediate its ends. Above the roller 24 and in the corner of the plate 22 remote from the sewing station is a guide bar 26 for reasons as will appear later. At the opposite end of the bracket 17 and integral with the fiat section 18 is an upright handle member 27 by means of which the guide unit may be adjusted in proper relationship to the sewing station.

A slide fastener chain 28 which consists of two tapes 2811 having interlocking fastening elements 29 adjacent atent beaded edges is fed from a suitable reel (not shown) supported above the sewing machine head 11 and guided downwardly along one side of said head through a channel bar 30. From the channel bar 30 the same is directed downwardly to the guide roller 24 with the guide bar 26 properly guiding the stringer tapes against the face of the roller so as to assure that the fastener elements 29 will register in the roller channel 25. The bar 26 also assures that the zipper elements on the chain or stringer will remain in the roller channel 25 in spite of any whipping action that may result in said chain or stringer during the feeding operation. The position of the roller 24 with its channel 25 therein is such relative to the sewing station that the chain 28 will be so guided that the ends of one of the rows of elements will be directed in gliding relationship to one face of the presser foot 14, thus assuring that the stitching will be uniformly spaced and in proper relationship to the fastener elements 29 on the chain 28. For this purpose, the roller is closely adjacent the presser foot and needle bar with its channel off-set to one side thereof.

One of the tapes 28a only of the chain 28 is stitched to a garment or support piece 31, and it is only necessary for the operator to feed and guide a series of garment pieces into the sewing station through which the zipper chain is being continuously drawn while the sewing machine is operating.

While there has been shown a zipper chain being attached to a garment piece, it is to be understood that the guiding device can be constructed and adjusted so as to guide a zipper stringer only (which consists of only one tape with fastener elements attached to the beaded edge thereof) to a garment piece and stitch it thereto.

Also, while there is shown only a single needle bar in the drawing, it is to be understood that the guiding device will work equally as well on a double stitching sewing machine.

While I have shown and described one embodiment which my invention may assume in practice, it is to be understood that various other forms may be devised within the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In combination with a sewing machine having a worksupport bed, an operating head over the bed which carries the usual presser foot and reciprocating needle bar, of a guide unit for guiding zipper stringers in proper relationship to said presser foot and needle bar, said guide unit comprising a bracket attached to the worksupport bed, a guide roller freely rotatable on a horizontal axis on said bracket, said roller having a circumferential channel, said roller being positioned closely adjacent said presser foot and needle bar with said channel off-set to one side thereof, the channel being of a depth and width as to accommodate the fastener elements on said stringers and serving to guide the zipper stringers into the sewing station of said machine with one edge of the fastener elements aligned with one face of the presser foot, and means for guiding the stringer tape from above to the guide roller, said means consisting of a bar projecting from the face of said bracket and so positioned as to extend parallel to the axis of the roller adjacent the channel to assure that the elements on the zipper stringer will be retained in the roller channel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

